New York's Broadway theaters suspend all shows after employee tested positive

Broadway recently announced that they were suspending all its shows for a month. The announcement comes after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on March 12 announced a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people would be going into effect. The suspension of Broadway shows went into effect from 5pm (local time) on March 12.

Employee tests positive

On March 10, an usher that works for Broadway tested positive for the coronavirus. The usher whose identity has not been revealed is now in quarantine. According to reports the usher had most recently worked on performances of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? last week and the week prior to that had been on duty during two performances of Six, which is a musical about the wives of Henry VIII.

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As per reports, the Shubert Organization and the Nederlander Organization, who own the theatres that the shows are held in, released a statement on March 11 which acknowledged that positive test result of one of their employees and claimed that they were taking every precaution and step necessary to ensure the safety of their audiences.  According to reports, the shows went on as planned on March 11 but customers were allowed to exchange their tickets for shows of a later date.

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The deadly coronavirus that began in China's Wuhan province has been officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation. While the majority of reported cases are still present in mainland China, the virus has spread to multiple countries around the world and infected 1,34,769 people worldwide. The death toll from the virus stands at 4,983 worldwide.